.jpg) |
Steve Hamilton, certified golf course superintendent at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, SC is the new president of the 1,800-member Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association. Hamilton, 38, was elected at the association’s annual business meeting during its 50th annual conference and trade show in Myrtle Beach today (Wednesday, Nov. 14). The three-day conference attracted more than 2,100 participants.
Hamilton is the eighth Myrtle Beach area superintendent to lead the association in its 58-year history. Members also elected new board members, Scott Kennon, CGCS from Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte, NC and Danny Allen, from Camden Country Club in Camden, SC. It is Kennon’s first time on the board. Allen served previously and was president in 2006.
Myrtle Beach also featured prominently later in the day when Fred Meda received the association’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, after a career spanning more than 30 years, mostly with the Myrtle Beach National Company. Meda was Carolinas GCSA president in 1981 and helped establish the Palmetto Golf Course Superintendents Association in the Myrtle Beach area which is home to more than 100 courses.
Earlier in the week, Steve Agazzi, from Kiawah Island Resort’s Turtle Point course, won his second Carolinas GCSA superintendent golf championship with a three-under par round of 69 at The Dye Club at Barefoot Resort. Agazzi also won in 2010. The championship presented in partnership with Smith Turf and Irrigation and The Toro Company, attracted 323 golfers and was played across three courses.
More than 600 people attended the annual Carolinas Night at the Beach celebration at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant. The event, presented in partnership with Tri-State Pump and Controls, follows the opening session of the trade show. This year’s trade show attracted just on 200 exhibiting companies occupying 380 booths.
Dean Baker, certified golf course superintendent, at Kinston Country Club in Kinston, NC won a $5,000 cash prize in the annual 36-Hole Challenge presented in partnership with John Deere distributors Revels Turf and Tractor, Greenville Turf and Tractor and ShowTurf. That prize was one of 19 awarded in the annual giveaway worth more than $13,000.
While some final numbers are several days away, Carolinas GCSA executive director, Tim Kreger, says the association filled more seats during education seminars than ever before. A total of 1,331 seats were filled topping last year’s record by four. Kreger says gross revenues were also likely to surpass the previous high of $609,000 set in the pre-recession days of 2007.
“This has been one of the best shows we’ve ever had and in some measures is certainly the best,” he says. “But the big take away is that here in the Carolinas, the golf industry remains a strong and significant player in the economic well-being of the two states. We are extremely proud that our members and our industry partners continue to invest in this event. I think the fact that they have done so in such volume this year suggests that the wider golf industry is finding solid footing again.”